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Every year on 2 February, the world unites to celebrate World Wetlands Day — a moment to recognise the crucial role wetlands play in sustaining life on Earth.
To mark the occasion, the Youth Alliance for Agroecology and Climate partnered with the Association for Integrated Management of Natural Resources and Environment (AGIRE) to organise a field visit dedicated to wetland ecosystems.
Why wetlands
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet and among the most rapidly lost. They filter water, buffer floods, store carbon at rates that outperform most forests, and support fisheries that feed entire regions.
They are also, too often, treated as wasteland waiting to be drained.
On the ground
The visit put participants directly in the landscape: observing bird life, water levels and vegetation, and speaking with the people whose livelihoods depend on the site. Seeing a wetland functioning is a more persuasive argument than any slide deck about ecosystem services.
Participants left with a clearer sense of what is at stake locally — and with contacts they have kept working with since.